‘Banker’ who lends to the poor wins Nobel Peace Prize

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The inspirational economist Muhammad Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize today for helping lift millions of his fellow Bangladeshis from poverty through a pioneering scheme that lends tiny amounts of money to the very poorest of borrowers.

Professor Yunus shares the prize, and the cheque for 10 million Swedish Kronor (£730,000) that accompanies it, with the Grameen Bank, which he founded after the Bangladeshi famine of 1974 and whose micro-credit model has since been copied in dozens of countries around the world.

The bank, which is owned almost entirely by its own borrowers, has lent out some £2.9 billion